Not only professional soldiers but also citizens serving as militiamen participated in the War of 1812.

The militia’s contribution to the War of 1812 is not well understood. Even now, 200 years later, we don’t know how many Upper Canadian militia men died defending their home.

York’s Sacrifice profiles 39 men who lost their lives during the war. They include 19 residents of the Town of York, five residents of York County, and 11 residents of Halton, Peel, and Wentworth Counties. Where possible, biographies include information about each man’s origin, residence, occupation, civic life, family, militia service, and circumstances of death. A section on records provides detailed guidance in finding and using records from the period to trace an ancestors militia service and life in this difficult time period.

A complete list of men who served in the three York regiments during the war identifies those who were killed, injured, captured, or deserted.

Janice Nickerson provided behind-the-scenes research for the CBC Television program Who Do You Think You Are?, published the books Women and Property in a Nineteenth-Century Ontario County and Ethnic Identity Among the Nineteenth-Century Descendants of Hudson's Bay Company Fur Traders, and has authored three how-to guides and numerous articles on genealogical subjects. She lives in Toronto.

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“Studies about units of the militia of Upper Canada are rare, making York’s Sacrifice an important and interesting addition to the literature on this topic.”

War of 1812 magazine